Rabbi Elhanan ‘Sunny’ Schnitzer

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
“I never found a spiritual home (not for lack of trying!) until I met Rabbi Schnitzer and Bethesda Jewish Congregation. When my son (3 years old at the time) saw a Star Wars Pez collection in Schnitzer’s office, the rabbi encouraged him to check them out. He scrambled up into the big desk chair on more than one occasion throughout the years (and became a bar mitzvah two months ago). My daughter (now 20) lists Schnitzer in the top three people she would go to if she couldn’t talk to me. I surely didn’t feel that way about my rabbi when I was a young adult! When my husband died unexpectedly three years ago, Rabbi Schnitzer was at my home within minutes and didn’t leave until I felt strong enough. He is a rock.”
—JOAN WOLF (also nominated by 11 others)
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
